"a Ukrainian's marital status is always reflected on his or her passport"

Links  Tonight is one of those rare occasions when there's a televisual pile up with Doctor Who, The Thick of It, Last Night of the Proms and the final night of the Paralympics all vying for our attention.  Luckily I hate The X Factor and everything it stands for so at least I'll have some breathing space.  What it does mean is I'm unlikely to be posting a Who review.  Which is fine.  There's time. And so ...

Sleeping Beauty becomes a political and personal allegory in Ukraine.
"Once upon a time, in the beautiful and politically volatile eastern European nation of Ukraine, five young women took turns lying on a bed in the National Art Museum, waiting for a true love's kiss. Their potential princes, after having presented their passports to the security guards (a Ukrainian's marital status is always reflected on his or her passport) and undergone a test for oral herpes, were allowed to kiss whichever young woman was on duty. Should she open her eyes during the kiss, they would be married instantly. Both the visitors to the museum and the sleeping beauties on display had previously signed a contract agreeing to the quickie marriage."

Candy Wrapper Archive

Abandoned Walmart is Now America’s Largest Library.
"The design won the International Interior Design Association’s 2012 Library Interior Design Competition. MSR stripped out the old ceiling and walls of the building, gave the perimeter walls and bare warehouse ceiling a coat of white paint, and set to work adding glass-enclosed spaces, bright architectural details and row after row of books."

Little Boots on her stylophone, laser harp & Tenori-on.
"We found out the hard way not to use old analogue synthesizers whilst touring. Luckily there are no plenty of reliable (ish) new analogue synths like the Moog Little Phatty which sonically lives up to its name. I was lucky enough to get the original tribute edition, which means it has pretty coloured light up buttons and sexy wooden sides, but unluckily seems to be prone to tuning bugs."

Arcade Games: How do the Claw crane 'arcade game' machines work?
"Basically, most crane games are designed so the claw is randomly (and only once in many games) strong enough to let players win. Some even weaken in strength after a short time so players get close to victory only to see it slip from their grasp! Since the manuals for many skill games are available online, this is not hard to verify."

Birds hold 'funerals' for dead.
"When western scrub jays encounter a dead bird, they call out to one another and stop foraging. The jays then often fly down to the dead body and gather around it, scientists have discovered."

A Conversation With Whit Stillman About The Script Of 'Metropolitan'.
"At a certain point, the script for Metropolitan started naturally coming together; the idea was to think back to a time that had been very important for me. And I remembered this experience, after my freshman year in college [at Harvard], of coming back to New York and being invited to some of these debutante parties. A lot of stuff in the script is actually true: the escort shortage, things like that. I had a friend who was kind of from that milieu more than I was, and I think the mothers felt they could call me or him as escorts for their daughters, and they'd get both of us, a sort of 2-for-1 deal."

The Word the Media Won’t Use.
"People and institutions are frequently criticized for the words they use. Lately, the mainstream news media has been getting heat for a word it habitually does not use. The word is lie—both the root noun and the verb that derives from it. Throw in the epithet liar while you’re at it."

Stacey Champion took on the Tea Party — and won.
"People assume that such spectacularly bad ideas will run up against political checks and balances and die early deaths — and often they do, even in Arizona, says Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter. But sometimes they don’t, and sometimes these proposals are pushed through in such a sneaky fashion that no one has a chance to shoot them down. [...] That’s where Champion came in."

Your handy Asylum of the Daleks observer's guide
It's me. Yes indeed, it seems there were more old Daleks on show, including a 1963 model, but only if you looked really, really carefully. I agree with most other observers. The final moments in which the Doctor was attacked by the so called survivors of his previous fights against them should have been a perfect opportunity to showcase them. Having the golden models made no particular sense other than perhaps some practicality.

1906 Athens 'Intercalated' Olympic Games.
"Athens held the first modern Olympics in 1896, and also wanted to host the 1900 edition. Paris was offered this honour instead, but by way of compensation Athens was presented with the option of hosting an 'Intercalated' games series. The idea was that every four years the Olympic Games could go to an international host city, and in between, the 'Intercalated' games would return to Athens, also every four years. 1906 was the first time this was deemed practical to organise."